The First World War
Responsibility - The Historiographical Debate
The Aftermath
‘Germany accepts the responsibility…for causing all the loss and damage…as a
consequence of the… aggression of Germany and her allies’
Article 231 Versailles Peace Treaty
‘…Germany is absolutely innocent with regard to the outbreak of war. Russia, and France
and England wanted war and unleashed it.’
Weimar Germany textbook
Between 1922 and 1927 forty volumes of official material was published by the German
government. German foreign office set up a War Guilt Section. Some documents were
falsified, some edited. Nothing was published from the General Staff, nor were crucial
episodes such as the Potsdam meeting 5-6th July where ‘blank cheque’ issued. Britain
published 11 volumes, Austria 8, etc.
The Interwar Years – Shared Guilt
G. Lowes Dickinson (Cambridge historian) – The International Anarchy (1926)
War caused by ‘alliance system’ and secret diplomacy. A Wilsonian viewpoint (Culpin
and Henig p.111-2) Sidney Fay (American Historian) – Origins of the World War (1928)
Blamed Russian mobilisation and Austria-Hungarian diplomacy
Lenin – Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916)
Socialists following Lenin identified close links between capitalism,
imperialism and the causes of war. The arms race cited as a typical
example.
(Culpin and Henig p.112-3)
The Impact of the Second World War
The outbreak of the Second World War demonstrated Benedetto Croce’s view that ‘all
history is contemporary history’. Historians began to look at whether Hitler fitted into a
pattern of German aggressive foreign policy. Luigi Albertini (Italian journalist) – The
Origins of the War of 1914 (1942-3) Three volumes of detailed facts of the six-week crisis.
German mobilisation was a declaration of war because of the Schlieffen Plan. English
Historian, A.J.P. Taylor agreed that ‘the sole cause for the outbreak of war in 1914 was the
Schlieffen Plan.’ (The Struggle for Mastery in Europe 1848-1914) More of Taylor’s
controversial views later when we look at the causes of WWII.
The Fischer Controversy
Fritz Fischer (German Historian) – Germany’s Aims in the First World War (1961) caused
an absolute sensation. Fischer had access to the Imperial archives in East Berlin where he
discovered the important memorandum ‘September Programme’ of German Chancellor
Bethmann Hollweg which outlined German expansionist and annexationist aims. (see
handout) Fischer had three main conclusions:
1. Germany planned for and hoped that war would break out as a
consequence of its backing of Austria against Serbia. There was a
‘will to war’.
2. Annexationist aims predated the war and were very similar to that
of the Nazis. e.g. ‘Sept. memo’
3. Reasons for expansionism largely found in her social, economic
and political domestic situation in 1914. Power in Germany rested
with the Junker class who felt under threat from socialism etc.
Later Fischer also drew attention to the personal diary of Admiral Müller (pub. 1965),
which revealed a secret ‘War Council’ meeting on 8th December 1912 at which the Kaiser
was informed that Britain would defend France in the event of attack. At this meeting
Chief of the General Staff, von Moltke comments ‘war is inevitable, and the sooner the
better.’ i.e. before Russia’s reforms better prepare her for war.
Since Fischer
Since 1945 the archives of Europe have been opened up to researchers. There are also
many more private letters and diaries. New research goes some way to making the Fischer
thesis the ‘orthodox’ position on the war. GB, France and Russia did not want to go to
war but reluctantly followed allies. Austria and Germany, in contrast, wanted war. In
1997, Holger Herwig concluded ‘the leaders in Berlin…saw war as the only solution;’
No more debate? There is a consensus that Germany caused the war but why and when
they decided to do so is hotly disputed. How should the ‘September Programme’ really be
interpreted? Did Germany really plan for war as early as December 1912? Were they
really that obsessed with German socialists?